On Through Time and Space We Go
by MRACR
Summary: My first crossover fic, MR and Doctor Who. Max gets caught in a trap and when the alien race that stole her finds out all about her past and where she's from, the flock may need outside help to save the world, once and for all. Faxness, of course.
1. Chapter 1: Start, Rewind

**Ok, this is my first crossover fic attempt (I think...yeah, it is...). I'm not going to tell you what I'm crossing over into...I want to see if anyone can guess it. :) I put enough clues already in this first chapter that a really dedicated fan _should_ be able to guess correctly...we'll see. Hopefully people even READ this story, though...anyway...please please please REVIEW:) I** **love love love reviews. Full summary as promised:**

**Max gets caught in a trap belonging to, well, aliens. Yes, Maximum Ride has been abducted by aliens. But when the alien race that stole her finds out all about her past and where she's from, they just might find the perfect way to invade Earth. Can Max escape, can she make her way back to her home planet and her flock? Will she be in _time_? And what outside help will come in that just might help her save the day?**

**It** **may take me a little bit to update on this story, since my life is crazy and my writing life is crazier, but I won't abandon it. I like it so far...:) Hopefully y'all do, too. Well, here ya go.**

**Chapter 1: Start, Rewind**

I stood at the door, my hand poised above it, ready to knock. After all I'd been through, to see the flock again was my greatest wish. But, I was scared. Nervous, really. The great Maximum Ride doesn't get scared.

…Until now.

A thousand thoughts went through my head, of how I got here, what had happened—what I still had to do to save the world. My thoughts were in complete turmoil, reaching back from now to the start of this crazy adventure.

"_Alright, go see your flock. Get them to help us; we could use them, that's for sure."_

"_Here we are; the year 2012."_

"_Guess what it stands for. Come on, guess. Time And…good job! You're a smart one. Time And what, d'you think? Starts with an R…"_

"_Where'd you pick up a stray like that, Rose? She's got wings—you've got wings, haven't you? What planet are you from, then?"_

"_Your kind is not welcome here."_

"_Escape, Max, get out of here!"_

"_How long has it been?"_

"_Let go of me!"_

"_Come with us, dear. We can take care of you. You won't have to worry, now. Everything's going to be alright."_

"_Where am I?"_

"_Fang!"_

"_Stay away from it. Keep your distance; it looks dangerous."_

"_What the heck is that?"_

"_What the heck is that?"_

"_What the heck is that?"_

"What the heck is that?" Iggy asked, head cocked to the side.

I listened closer until I heard it—a small, whirring noise. It sounded a mixture of screaming, machine whirring, and heavy wind.

The flock became instantly, instinctively, silent. I stood up and they followed me as I headed toward the sound coming through the trees. We came to a clearing, and in front of use was a lake.

Like most lakes, it was filled with water. Unlike most lakes, it was glowing orange. And spinning into a whirlpool.

The most disconcerting thing was that it was happening in the middle of nowhere, for apparently no reason, and the sun was still shining, the day going on like normal except for the freaking glowing _lake_ in front of me.

I heard someone curse under their breath behind me.

"Stay away from it. Keep your distance; it looks dangerous," I said unnecessarily.

"No freaking _duh_," Fang said beside me. I rolled my eyes, keeping my temper in check for the moment. What was _with _him lately?

I stepped purposefully away from him. Which meant, inevitably, that I stepped _closer_ to the tentatively called "water." Apparently, too close.

"Max," Fang said, actual worry tinting his voice.

I spun around to face him. "What?" I demanded shortly, annoyed. Then I saw it. My hands were starting to glow with the same light as the water. _Crap_.

After that, it all happened too fast. I felt myself pulled toward the water and tried to fight it. I yelled at the horrified flock to stay put, but Fang leapt forward to try and grab me, and he either would have succeeded or been pulled in with me if it hadn't been for the fact that I disappeared, along with the glowing lake, at just that moment.

"Fang!" was the last thing I screamed, and probably the last thing he heard from me. Then, as the clichéd but true saying goes, everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2: Dead?

**Yay! So many reviews (yeah...four counts as "many" to me lol) made me want to write more, so I already have chappie 2 ready. :) And YAY thanks to 'Stefan the Vampire' for guessing the crossover. Doctor Who. :D:D I love love love Doctor Who...my all-time favorite show after Good Eats...:) If only Rose hadn't gone away...sigh...anyway...**

**Yes, the beginning is a bit confusing. Basically, it starts out sometime in the middle of the story, where she's at the flock's door. She's been gone for awhile. We don't know how long, yet. Then she recalls how she got to the place. All the quotes in italics were random quotes from the story starting with the most "recent" in relation to her and going back to the beginning of this story. At the beginning quote, the story starts back where it should...where Max gets caught. Hopefully Chapter 2 helps explain more about that.**

**I can't wait for chapter 3!! It's where the Doctor comes in...if any Doctor Who watchers can figure out which episode I stuck Max into, that would be awesome. A hint, the beginning part has nothing to do with the episode, that's just something else I came up with. The very end of this chapter is where she starts into the episode, just the very very end. The next chapter will have more of that in it. :) Ok, now that I've rambled your poor eyes out...**

**Chapter 2: Dead?**

I woke up wet and cold, on a small circle of dirt barely big enough for me to lay across in, with a wall around it. It was pretty dark, but a small bit of blue light shone in from the top of the wall, which was pretty dang high.

As soon as I sat up, the wall disappeared and I was faced with a roomful of nearly-human-looking creatures. Yeah, nearly human. They looked almost exactly like humans, except for the fact that their eyes were about twice as large and their skin was mottled blue and red.

More angry than anything else, I stood up and started toward the nearest one. "Where am I?" I demanded of it, ready to punch its lights out if it didn't answer in time.

It stood up, no taller than me, and said, "Come with us, dear. We can take care of you. You won't have to worry, now. Everything's going to be alright." It had a very soothing voice.

If I hadn't been worried up to that point, I was sure worried now. Had I _sounded_ like I was a scared, skittish animal that needed soothing? Yeah, sure, that's me. So the only reason they would have talked that way is if they _expected_ me to be frightened. Which meant they knew I'd been captured. Which, in all likelihood, meant they'd been the ones to capture me. It made sense to me.

I started backing up warily, sizing them up. If I took out the one on the left first, I could manage to knock out the one just behind him and make it out that door. I had no clue what was behind the door, but that part could wait for later.

The only thing I hadn't counted on were the three guards that came up behind me. Yep, that's me, little miss observancy. You have to be really sneaky to get past _me_.

I won't go into all the details of what came after that. Most of them were forgotten by my desperate mind, anyway.

For the next four years, I never left their dungeon. The first year, I tried every way I could imagine to get them to release me, and refused all interrogation methods they tried. The second year, I broke down and finally told them my entire life history. By the third year I figured that they must be keeping me for observation purposes, for they seemed to have no further use for me. By the fourth year I swear they were only trying to see how long it took for me to break down. But I never did.

During all that time, I was allowed no contact except with the interrogators and the few people who were brought in to study me.

One of them came in regularly every week, and after the first three years his questioning and probing got deeper. Since I'd already told them everything I figured they ought to know, he got nothing but smart-ass answers from me, no matter how intensely he questioned me.

Yet he never seemed to get exasperated or upset with me, which really got on my nerves.

Did he really think that after growing up in the _School_, a luxurious, spacious dungeon like this, where they fed you regularly and didn't run horrible tests on you would actually break me down?

The only thing that was worse about this place was the one thing missing: my flock.

I couldn't believe how much time had passed. Four years. I was 18. Freaking 18. Almost 19. By now, we should have saved the world, settled down somewhere, and possibly be finding people we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with. The older three of us, that is.

Sometimes I got lost in my own mind, imagining what the flock would have been like by now. Angel would be 11, sweet as ever. Gazzy 13 and finally starting to like girls.

Nudge would be 16, and more of a typical teenage girl than I'd ever got the chance to be. Maybe she'd be growing out of her motor-mouth stage…or maybe she'd be worse.

Iggy would probably have about 20 girlfriends.

Fang would probably have even more just trailing after him _wishing_ they could be his girlfriend. He'd always had girls staring after him wherever we went. But he'd probably have just one, and she'd better be worthy of him.

Sometimes, when I wasn't in a smart-alec mood, I'd tell Merti—the guy who visited me regularly every week—about the flock. Real things that had happened to us; things that I imagined they'd have done by now; how I felt about each of them, my family.

I swear toward the end there I was losing it big time. I think Merti noticed. He started acting concerned about me, I think. Most of my last few weeks there is just a blur to me, though.

I remember the last day I was there. Merti came in a day early.

Other than that, everything seemed pretty normal. Until he grabbed me out of my chair, flung me against the wall, and pressed himself to the wall next to me.

"Let go of me," I hissed. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"How long has it been," he whispered back, "since you saw the sun?"

That effectively stunned me into silence. Merti unlocked the door to my cell and looked quickly around the corner. He pulled me around it and down a thankfully empty hallway.

We turned through another doorway and a few steps after that the guards were after us. Or someone was after us—it didn't really matter who. All that mattered was that there were more of them than us, I was way out of practice to the point of being w—_nearly _weak, and I had no clue where we were.

I was way more out of breath than I should have been by the time we'd gone down three more corridors. Merti was practically dragging me along as I gulped in air.

"Open your wings," he panted.

I had the feeling this wasn't the time to protest so I did, just as a stairway loomed in front of us.

We climbed it as fast as possible and Merti flung open the door that was at the top. _Sunlight. Sky. Grass. Wind. Air._

He pushed me out the door that led to nowhere—no landing, just a two-story drop—and my out-of-practice wings struggled to keep me afloat.

"Fly!" he yelled. "Escape, Max, get out of here!"

And with those words, he went down. The people who'd been following us knocked him out and took him away, barely giving me a second glance, and shutting the door as fast as possible.

I felt a bit guilty about leaving him, but I hoped he'd be okay. He'd given much to ensure that I got out safe, so the least I could do was actually get out safe. Since they seemed more concerned about keeping their doors closed than capturing me, I made my escape.

I flew over what appeared to still be Earth until I came to a hill overlooking a large body of water. It was beautiful, down to the minor detail of the extremely futuristic-looking city, complete with hovercars zooming around, that loomed in front of me.

I landed on the hill and watched the hovercars flit back and forth in uncomprehending silence, my thoughts glazed over.

So…I'd traveled through time. I might have aged four years, but in this time, was the flock already long, long gone? They'd obviously succeeded in saving the world. Had they lived out their lives happily without me? When had they died? Died…dead…dead…

Dead?


	3. Chapter 3: Introductions, Onesided

**_YAAAAAAAAY! Everybody do the Dance of Joy! I finally got chapter 3 up. And as I have no excuse, I shan't waste space and your time with such pointlessness. So, in case you don't remember what happened in chapter 2, uh, I'm very sorry. Go read it again. If you don't remember chapter 1 either...well, uh, please don't hold it against me! I really am sorry. Hopefully I did a good job portraying the Doctor and Rose and Max's reactions to them...Ok, now, on with the show! Or, uh, the fic! Ok, ok, I'll be nice and include the last couple paragraphs from chapter 2 as well. :) Enjoy! And please review!!!!!

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I landed on the hill and watched the hovercars flit back and forth in uncomprehending silence, my thoughts glazed over.

So…I'd traveled through time. I might have aged four years, but in this time, was the flock already long, long gone? They'd obviously succeeded in saving the world. Had they lived out their lives happily without me? When had they died? Died…dead…

Dead?

**Chapter 3:**

In a complete daze, I could do nothing but sit and stare at the grass in front of me. There was a small pen there, so I absently picked it up in a vain attempt to keep my mind off, well, anything.

_Your kind is not welcome here._

That's what they'd told me, why I couldn't leave. Because my kind—humans—weren't welcome where they'd taken me. Since when were humans not welcome on Earth? Those idiots.

"Hello?" A voice came from behind me, slightly…British?

Eyes glazed, I turned toward the blonde girl, probably about my age, 18 or 19.

"I'm Rose," she said. "Not to be rude but that's my pen you've got. I just came back to get it."

"Oh," I said, blinking and handing it to her. "Sure thing."

"Who're you then?"

"I'm . . . Max," I said dully.

"Oi, something wrong?" she asked cautiously.

With my mind trying to focus on _anything_ but what was wrong with me, I realized: what use was a regular pen in this sort of technology?

"Where are you from?" I asked.

Startled at my subject change, Rose backed up a couple steps. "What do you mean?"

I stood up and walked closer to her. "You've got a pen. A normal pen. Normal pens don't exist anymore. Merti told me so, but I didn't know he meant I was this far in the future until now. Don't you get it? You. Have. A. Normal. Pen."

Ok, maybe I was going off the deep end, but this was my only hope. And it was _not_ Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Rose looked at me understandingly. "You're not from this time, are you? You're from the past."

I nodded my head and then looked down at the only normal-looking thing besides the girl—the grass. "Sorry. It's just—" I stopped as tears sprang to my eyes and I blinked them back furiously.

"How'd you get here, then?"

"I don't know," I put up defenses automatically.

"I've got a friend, the Doctor, he can help you if you tell me how you got here and where you're from."

"Well I am from Earth, just not in this time," I started. If help was here, I wasn't going to turn it away. Fang would be furio—I cut my own thoughts off. I couldn't think them right now.

"Actually, this is New Earth, completely different planet," Rose said, smiling.

I blinked. It didn't surprise me that much. But…

"Still in the future?" I asked.

"If you're from traditional Earth, then yeah. But, are you sure?" she seemed somewhat confused.

"That I'm from Earth? Of course."

"But…the wings?" Rose gestured to my back.

_Oh crap,_ I thought. I hadn't bothered pulling my wings in.

"Yeah, about that…" I hesitated. Did I really want to tell her? All I really needed was to get back home. "Listen, I can't tell you. But yeah, I'm from Earth. Fell into an orange lake, separated from my fl—my family, woke up here and been experimented on for about four years, just now escaped."

Wow, didn't know I was that good at nutshelling.

"Oh my God, experimented on? Is that how you got the, uh, wings, there? Oh nevermind, I really have to go now, the Doctor's probably still waiting in the TARDIS. Come on."

I followed her cautiously as she turned and started walking to the edge of the field, and once we got over the hill, she headed toward some blue box thing.

"Doctor?" I asked. "Doesn't he have a name, or what?"

"Nope," she said brightly. "Just, 'the Doctor'."

Well, I'd heard of worse things than a guy with the name Doctor. Like, nameless children with half the DNA of a lizard, dying at only a few weeks old.

"What's with the box? You're going to go in there? What, and make a phone call?" I asked as Rose reached for the door.

"No, come on inside. This is the TARDIS."

_Well, this is getting better and better. I'm in the future on what appears to be another planet, following a girl who's gone off the deep end into a tiny blue box that will never hold both of us,_ I thought. _But hey, who am I to complai—oh my…_

The inside was…was…

"Bigger than the outside, I know," Rose unknowingly finished my thoughts. "It's great."

"Sure, that's the word I was looking for," I muttered.

"Doctor!" the shorter blonde girl yelled.

"Did you find your pen, then?" a male voice called, coming out of one of the hallways—_hallways, _as in, multiple hallways, in one tiny blue box. "Oh, hello," the fairly tall, wild-eyed, brown-haired weirdo in a trenchcoat said, seeing me. "Where'd you pick up a stray like that, Rose? She's got wings—you've got wings, haven't you? What planet are you from, then?"

The insanely hyper and almost Nudge-like way he spoke put me on edge.

"Earth. 2008." I stated, narrowing my eyes slightly at him.

"Ahh," he said. "Well, I'm the Doctor in case you didn't know, and this is Rose Tyler."

"I've met Rose. And we're in something called the TARDIS—"

"Guess what it stands for. Come on, guess."

What was he, 5? "Probably Time and something," I said, suppressing the simultaneous urge to slap him upside the head and burst out laughing.

"Time And…good job! You're a smart one. Time And what, d'you think? Starts with an R…"

"I don't have time for this!" I suddenly exploded. "I have to get back to my family!"

His grinning face became a mask of seriousness as he considered me and my wings. Even Rose's amused giggles died down.

"The TARDIS says you're 2 bird," he said softly. "I'm sorry."

Now that he was done being some kid in the candy shop, I could see the same sort of haunted expression of intelligence in his eyes that they said great musicians and artists have, except so much more so. He was far more dangerous than he acted.

"Oh, I don't mind all that much," I said lightly. "I've been like this since before I was born. Flying's actually pretty amazing."

"You were born with wings?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, avian hybrid. Name of Max, picked it myself. Me and five other of the same kind escaped the School—an evil place where they experiment like this all the time." And why was I telling them all of this? Who knows. "Me and my flock were the only ones who escaped, the only successful ones, the only survivors. Well, except for the Erasers, but they're long gone. The whole thing was run by a company called Itex."

"Itex, I've heard that name before," the Doctor said.

"The name's everywhere. They make all sorts of things. But underneath it all, they run this. We already mostly took them down. Just a few spots of resistance left. My flock and I were working on it until—"

There I stopped, pressing my fingers to the bridge of my nose.

"Something happened to them?" That was Rose.

"No, me," I said shortly. "When I was fourteen I got sucked into some orange lake and when I woke up I was here, well, inside a building somewhere around here. The whatever-the-heck-they-were studied me for the last four years. If this is the future then…my flock's…"

"Max," the Doctor said. I looked up at him, trying not to cry. "I can take you back."


	4. Chapter 4: Going Back

**_Ok ok people, this is me being sorry. SORRY! I really am sorry. I keep forgetting to update, then procrastinating, then almost writing more of a chapter, then procrastinating. Meanwhile I've written several chapters of one of my original books. Jeez I'm such a weirdo. But anyway, here's the next chapter! Yay! Max gets to go home at last! lol ok so anywayz enjoy and REVIEW and the more you review the more I will try to get the next chapter up faster, k:):)_**

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Chapter 4

"_Max," the Doctor said. I looked up at him, trying not to cry. "I can take you back."_

"Now, I'm not sure how you got here but—" he pointed some buzzing, glowing blue stick at me and retracted it before I could react. "Yep. Thought so. That's a relief, then."

"What?" Rose asked tolerantly, echoing my not-so-tolerant thoughts.

"Only a basic time trap. My guess is: they aimed it at Earth to study humans and ended up with you. How much information did they get out of you, about Itex?" he asked as he walked briskly back and forth, pushing random buttons, pulling levers.

"Well I've been through worse. Way worse." I ignored the look of concern on the Doctor's face, and the look of pity on Rose's. "But I've always had my fl—fam—well, flock, yeah. I think I got kind of desperate at the end."

I felt a bit of embarrassment. The great Maximum Ride, crumbling after only four years. Wonderful. But Rose looked impressed.

"Four years, and you only broke at the end?"

"They wouldn't respond to my sarcasm. I got bored, what can I say?"

The Doctor, leaning against one of the multicolored-ish beams, briefly grinned. Then the TARDIS started to shake.

"What the—" I started.

"Right then, off we go!"

"_What_ is going on?" I demanded. If someone didn't tell me _this instant_…

"It's just the TARDIS," Rose said laughingly.

They hadn't prepared me so it was just as well I had wings. Rose and the Doctor were hanging on to various bubbly-looking supports when the crashes and jolts started up. As a particularly large one rocked the strange ship, I spread my wings. Battered they may be, but they're excellent at keeping balance.

"So, uh," I started conversationally, "we're going through time, then?"

"Right-o," the Doctor said cheerfully. Cheerful one second, serious the next. What, did he have multiple personalities or something?

All at once the shaking came to a halt. Earth. My flock. Was it possible? Was it real?

"That's faintly disturbing," I said.

I don't think they heard me, though. Rose turned to the Doctor, looking somewhat eager. I noticed that most of her attention was focused on him. _How sweet_, I thought somewhat sarcastically, automatically trying to rid my mind of thoughts of the flock.

"Here we are; the year 2012."

"The year _what?_" I demanded sharply, turning to the Doctor.

"2012, four years from when you left." He looked utterly unconcerned.

"I said 2008!" I said, trying to keep my voice from rising. "I want to go back to my flock."

The Doctor started to say something but was cut off by Rose. "Hang on, I think I've got this one."

She came forward and put a hand on my shoulder. "You can't go back. You're too much older. The time vortex won't let you go back with that much of a time difference. But it's only as if you've been away for four years. I'm sure it'll be fine."

Her calm words couldn't quite dispel the panic I was feeling. What had my flock done without me for four years? Had they moved on? Was Fang able to lead them?

"Where are they?" I demanded, needing to see them as soon as I could.

"Oh they're right around the corner but I need to know one thing before I let you go," the Doctor said. "What color were they? What did they look like, the beings who took you? This could be very important."

As if I could possibly forget the aliens that held me captive for four freaking years. "Bluish, but with mottled red spots in random places, especially on their faces. They looked human otherwise."

"Big eyes?"

"Yeah, about twice the size of normal p—"

"Oh no, oh no."

I had a feeling this was not a good thing.

"What?" Rose asked, concerned.

"If I'm right, and I'm never wrong, those are one of the sub-clans of the Akrilan."

"And that's bad, is it?"

"They have this . . . habit, of taking over planets. They must've set their sights on Earth."

"How do we stop them?" I broke in.

The Doctor, who had begun to pace, stopped and grinned at me. "I like that. All ready for action, eh?"

"Well I was apparently supposed to save the world. Might as well give it another shot. But how do they think they can just come here and take over the world? There weren't that many of them."

"But they heard what you had to say about Itex, am I right, Doctor?" Rose said.

"Yeah," he ran a hand through is hair. "This is not good. That's why Itex has been laying low, they've been overrun and are even more secretive, just the calm before the storm."

"My flock and I can help," I said. "And if you don't let us we'll do it on our own."

Rose spoke up, "Of course you can come."

The Doctor stopped in front of me, running a hand along the tan-streaked feathers of my left wing, which I twitched back involuntarily. "Fantastic!" he said quietly. Looking up at me, he continued, "Of course you can come! You've got to save the world, after all."

"I'll, uh, need my flock. We're kind of a team." I really needed to see them. I'd been distracted, but they were so close. I was suddenly about to burst. If I didn't get back to them any second I was sure my heart was going to leap out and find them itself.

"Alright, go see your flock. Get them to help us; we could use them, that's for sure."

"Where?" I asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Just around the corner. Number 237, or so the TARDIS says." So they had an address.

I held myself back for just one more question. "How many?"

"Five." Thank God.

I raced outside, barely noting the quiet "neighborhood," consisting of about three widely spaced houses—more like mansions, abandoned mansions at that—on this hill overlooking empty countryside. Well they'd found a nice, quiet place to live. Breathing heavily, I tucked in my wings so the flock couldn't see how battered and awful they'd become. Barely fit for flight.

And that brings me back to the front door, standing with my hand poised to knock.

_Just knock. It's easy,_ I told myself. _Knock, knock. Come on!_ I was really starting to tick myself off. Which is pretty weird.

I couldn't do it. _I just can't._

_Of course you can, idiot! This is your _flock! _This is _your_ flock!_

And then I was knocking on the door, pounding more like it.

My vision started to blur so I hardly noticed when the door opened inward to a dark room. I couldn't see, but my instincts reacted pretty fast when the fist came flying out of the darkness straight for my head.


	5. Chapter 5: Reunions, Bittersweet

**_Ok, I had some sudden inspiration (a.k.a. I was procrastinating on my original story) so I decided to write the next chappie of this! I know you're all starting to faint because it's so soon compared to how often I usually update, but if you faint, you can't read this. So don't. Lol. Anyway, if you really want, you can skip this A/N because it's gonna be kinda long. I just looked through the reviews and realized that I haven't addressed the interesting ones yet, I don't think I did anyway, so I shall do that now._**

**_Stefan the Vampire-- thanks for your constructive criticism, and your praise! It's always nice to find that combination. I will definitely work on revising the part where Max just suddenly assumes she's way far in the future._**

**_The Probable Future-- on chapter 2, "The Probable Future" reviewed something like this ". . . I am seriously creeped out. Where did that come from?" and then stopped reviewing. So, to you, "The Probable Future," uh . . . thanks? Or . . . what? Yeah, I think what?! covers it . . . _**

**_Wally-West-Go-Zoom-- hahaha I love all the new new new new's in front of the name, too. Glad you like the combo, I hadn't seen it and just thought it had to be done. DW and MR. Ahhh life is good._**

**_"unknown"-- hahaha "Notice the 'soon'." your review made me laugh, because it sounds exactly like what I think, whether I say it in my review or not, all the time with fics. And it's definitely what I tell myself. All the time. Sorry that I update so slowly. Hope you keep reading!_**

**_AsanteSanaSquashBanana-- OH MY GOSH your name is so hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing for, like, five minutes straight. And I'd just finished watching that movie when I checked for reviews. Your name is awesome. And now I have that song-ish-thing stuck in my head again . . . lol. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and I did hear Rose is coming back and I CAN'T WAIT!_**

**_feathersofbronze-- gotta be Fang, you say? Well, keep reading to find out, hm? (p.s. It _was_ going to be Fang until I realized how off-character and totally cliched that would make the whole reunion thing, and changed my mind. Hope you still like it, for I think it's somewhat more in character than I would have been able to make it if Fang had been at the door.)_**

**_And thanks to everyone else who has reviewed. I LOVE LOVE LOVE reviews (it's 5:40 AM and I've been up all night, so please forgive the excessive capitalization and/or exclamation marks). I would really like more on this fic . . . but anyway, please enjoy!_**

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Chapter 5

My hand shot out at lightning speed, grabbing the anonymous wrist before I had time to think. I twisted the arm around, letting it go and using the momentum to bring a roundhouse kick straight at my attacker's head.

By this time the thought finally made it through to my conscious self: _A trick?_

I couldn't do anything about it now but to fight. Whoever I was fighting was pretty good, but through the tunnel-vision attack-mode, I couldn't focus on who the pale figure might be.

My foot was caught before I completed the move, but I simply flipped into the air low enough that I didn't need my wings, freeing my leg, and landed behind him, aiming another kick, at his blue-t-shirt-covered back, but I missed as he turned around almost as quickly and instead I collided with his shoulder.

He reached for my foot as he was pushed backward, but missed, groping around in the air. At the last second, he used the momentum of falling for an offensive, dropping into a practiced crouch and spinning, sweeping a denim-clad leg under mine to trip me, but I'd already jumped out of the way.

The apparent expert got easily back to his feet and, in an entirely unanticipated move that I had no time to counter, hugged me. I froze.

We hadn't made much noise, but apparently our silence alerted someone. "Iggy?" the voice came from somewhere beyond the open doorway.

Iggy?

As in, my Iggy?

I looked up, the strawberry-blonde hair, pale skin, fighting style registering finally in my mind.

"Iggy!" I exclaimed, unfreezing and squeezing him back just as tightly before pulling away.

He opened his eyes, for all the good that did, and said, "So Max, 'sup?"

I punched his shoulder—in a friendly way—and said, "Oh, nothing: getting captured, studied, the usual. But no more now," I added as he looked about to demand more. "Right now I need to see the rest of the flock. They're all ok, aren't they?"

I really hoped I didn't sound too desperate in front of Iggy. I _was_ still the flock's leader. I hoped.

"Iggy!" a dark-skinned, curly-brown-haired girl exclaimed as skidded to a stop in the front doorway. She looked about the age I was when I left. Nudge.

"Max?" she asked, her mouth agape, staring at me. But only for a second before she threw herself into my arms, shaking a bit but not crying. I heard her murmuring, "Oh God, oh God, please don't be a dream again."

_What did these kids go through when I was captured?_

I was sure they'd been strong, carrying on, somehow getting this house, but their hopes and fears came to them in dream form. I sure as heck knew what that was like. What do you _think_ I dreamt about every night, only to wake up to find it not real? I just hugged her back tight, trying to reassure her.

"Of _course_ it's real, Nudge," Iggy broke in before I could say a word. "Doesn't this hurt?" He pinched her arm.

"Ow!" She drew out of the embrace enough to take a swipe at Iggy's shoulder, which missed, of course, as he heard it coming.

Then she turned to me. When I'd left, I was already thinking of her less as my baby and more as my sister. Now she was just about as tall as me, older than I was when we tried to save the world the first time. I almost couldn't believe it.

"Where's the rest of the flock?" I asked.

Both of their faces fell, as if my appearance had cast a certain nostalgic spell over them that cold hard reality had just broken.

Iggy's silence behind me grew even more so. Real tears sprang to Nudge's eyes. _Oh, God, no, no, no, no._

"I didn't think you'd make it in time, but you did. I always hoped, but we never said anything about it. But you did, you made it in time, Max." Nudge's voice was quieter than ever.

"In time for what," I choked out, my mouth suddenly dry.

Almost before she'd finished saying one simple word, I was darting past her and into the house, following my instincts, every sense hyper-alert, straight for the den—ironic, how _bird_-kids have a den, not, say, a nest—where I was immediately greeted by a horrible sight.

The word Nudge had whispered, eyes forced to meet mine, was, "Angel."

And there she was, my beautiful 10-year-old blonde baby, lying prone on a tan couch, her gorgeous white wings drooping off the edge, an equally blonde boy kneeling next to her, whispering something I couldn't make out.

"Hush!" he whispered surprisingly forcefully, probably thinking I was Nudge or something. "She's sleeping and she'd better not wake up because of—" Gazzy's voice cut off as he soundlessly stood, facing me, his mouth agape just like Nudge's.

Probably only the appearance of Iggy and Nudge behind me stopped him from suspicion.

I was probably a sight to see—I simply stood there, my entire body tense, staring at Angel. I looked briefly at Gazzy, but most of my attention was on Angel. My Angel.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked hoarsely.

No one answered me immediately. Iggy had apparently become Mr. "silent one" around here and Nudge was probably too choked up to answer. Gazzy had crossed the empty floor between us and pressed his head—oh my God, he was as tall as me—into my shoulder, tears starting to soak my shirt.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Nudge's surprised look as more tears started again in her own eyes. Apparently Gazzy was still my little trooper, taking care of his sister. He only let himself break down because I was here.

Nudge blinked furiously, obviously trying to stop them. It hit me. She'd been trying to take my place, she was trying to be strong. But I signaled to her and the dam broke, she embraced me and I held both of my guys for a minute in silence.

They finally composed themselves—I was in too much shock to cry—and pulled back.

So I asked again, voice as hoarse as before, "What's wrong with her?" _What's wrong with my baby?_

"She got sick," Gazzy said, his voice had an emptiness in it, where determination must have once been. How long had this been going on? "She never got sick before. We never get sick. But Angel did. She's got a fever, she can barely sleep, she's mostly delirious when she's awake, and nothing we've tried works. We even went to Dr. Martinez. She said she hadn't ever seen anything like it. She couldn't help."

"She just lays there. We barely get her to eat anymore, and she gets weaker and weaker," Nudge said when the Gasman stopped.

"How long?" I asked, staring at the peaceful-looking Angel in front of me.

No one answered, so I said louder, "How long has she been like this?"

Iggy put a hand on my shoulder from behind and said, "A year, Max. She's been sick for a year. We think she's dying. It's gotten even worse lately. I think . . . I think you made it just in time."

"In time to say goodbye?" I asked snarkily. I don't take this kind of news well. "I don't think so."

None of them answered, and we all just stood around, kind of awkwardly. I still was hesitant to approach Angel. Gazzy had said she'd finally fallen asleep. I didn't want to be the one to wake her up, no matter how badly I just wanted to hold her to me.

But someone's missing from this little scene, I'm sure you've noticed. "He was supposed to step up if anything happened to me. That lying . . . that . . . that . . ." I trailed off, as all the words that came to mind were either inappropriate or insufficient. "Where is he?" By now the three members of the flock that surrounded me were looking at me as if I was slightly crazy. I probably was, but that's beside the point.

"Where's Fang?" I clarified, my voice containing a rage that thankfully suppressed my shock and headed off my sadness. The word sadness wouldn't even be suitable to describe the feelings, but since my anger overpowered them all, I don't have to describe them at all.

Iggy was about to answer, his mouth open, when I realized that I'd been having a prickling sensation along the back of my neck for almost a minute. "Nevermind," I said darkly, spinning around.

Without a word, I stepped toward the olive-skinned, dark-haired, new "leader" of the flock. Fang met my eyes, his own glassy and bloodshot. He hadn't been sleeping lately. I felt the others' concern and uncertainty as I stopped about a foot from Fang. He hadn't grown much taller, still only a few inches more than me, but he had certainly _grown._ But not out of his must-wear-black phase.

He stayed silent, the way his eyes widened slightly, his jaw barely tighter, showing his utter shock and disbelief.

Apparently either my ticked-off words or the murderous look in my eyes alerted him, because as I yanked back my right arm, he grabbed my left before I could sneak a punch straight at his face. Not wanting to waste possible momentum, I tried slamming my diversion right-hand into his face, but he caught that, too.

"Dang it, Fang, let me go!" When he didn't, I started struggling, yelling at him. In a whisper, so I wouldn't wake Angel. "How could you let this happen? You're supposed to be the leader! You're supposed to protect them! You incompetent _jerk_, what did you do to my flock?!"

I struggled and swore at him for at least another two minutes, unable to break free of his steady grip or gaze. The rest of the flock, minus Angel, remained in shocked silence behind me. Finally I ran out of insults and collapsed into tears.

Fang surprised me by letting go of my hands, which went instantly to my face, and putting his ropy arms around me, pressing my head to his hard shoulder. I didn't need to apologize—even after all this time, he knew me. He knew I didn't mean any of it.

When my shuddering sobs finally stopped, I realized how déjà vu this whole situation was. The only thing that was missing was . . . Angel . . .

I didn't want to face any of it—the embarrassment from breaking down, the rest of the mourning flock, my baby laying there so dead-looking and pale that it broke my heart. I just wanted to stay like this, hidden in Fang's embrace, forever.

God how I'd missed them.

The last time we'd all been together, Fang was acting a right _idiot_ and I couldn't ever figure out why, in all the years I was gone, nothing made sense. I didn't know what had changed once I'd left but he was just _hugging_ me now, not saying anything snide. Iggy was more talkative then, Nudge way more, and Gazzy didn't seem so old for his age. And Angel wasn't about to die.

I made myself pull back and Fang looked down at me. "We haven't quite lost hope," he said, as if he could read my mind.

Angel could read minds. I had to stop thinking like that.

I didn't answer Fang, I couldn't yet. I just stood there in thought for a second. They said they'd already tried everything, even bringing in a doctor, though it was my own m—Doctor?

I had a doctor with me. _The_ Doctor, apparently. Things had gone too fast, I didn't know just what he was a doctor of, but if there was any chance . . .

"Good thing. That might be all that's keeping her alive now." I turned, suddenly businesslike, leaderly, as if I'd never been gone for years, studied and deprived of my family.

"Max . . ." Nudge said warily as I approached Angel.

"You'll wake her up," Gazzy offered.

"It doesn't matter right now. We're taking her to a Doctor."

"Max," Iggy's voice had pity in it. I can't stand pity. "Max, we've already tried that."

"What are you thinking?" Fang asked over Iggy, not questioning me. About time.

I couldn't believe I'd forgotten this long. We had to save the world, and I'd forgotten. _But my family's the most important. The world can wait. Angel can't._

"Not just any doctor, not even my mom. _The_ Doctor. I'm taking Angel to the Doctor. He's our only chance. He brought me back, and he can fix this," I said, being strong as always. But secretly I thought, _At least, I hope he can._

I didn't dare look at Fang as I scooped up the way-too-thin Angel in my arms. He'd know how doubtful I was if he saw my eyes. His own probably had plenty of questions. After all, they didn't know where I'd been, or who this Doctor was. That would have to wait.

Angel didn't wake up, and I could hardly look at her pallid face. My wings flared out in helpless anger as I turned back around.

The flock looked suddenly alarmed at my tattered wings, but I shrugged off their glances.

"Max, I'm sorry I tried to—" Iggy started after Nudge whispered something, apparently about my wings, in his ear.

"You were just making sure it was me. Can't blame you. I taught you guys well. But now, we need to take care of Angel. Don't worry about me," I said tersely.

"God, Max," Fang said in a low voice. "What _happened_ to you?"

"_Not now_." Did he _ever_ learn? "I'll tell you everything later," I conceded, trying to rub out the tearstains on my cheeks with my shoulder. "Just follow me."

"Can we trust this 'Doctor'?" Gazzy, surprisingly, said.

Well, he wasn't in league with anyone that I was aware of, like, the School or Itex. And he somehow, in spite of his insanity, broadcasted the vibe that you could really trust him. So, I said the best I could without totally lying:

"Uh, I think so."


	6. Fic Cancel Notice

And they all died, the end.


End file.
